SUPPORTING DIFFERENTLY-ABLED STUDENTS IN TWO NEW JERSEY COMMUNITY ...

211 Pages·2017·0.92 MB·English

RunningHead: SUPPORTING DIFFERENTLY-ABLED STUDENTS IN TWO NEW JERSEY
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
SUPPORTINGDIFFERENTLY-ABLEDSTUDENTS INTWO
NEW JERSEY COMMUNITYCOLLEGES
By
Mildred Faulkner Waale
A dissertation submitted to
The Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree
Doctor of Education
Graduate Program in Education
Approved by
_______________________________
Melinda Mangin, Ph.D., Chair
_______________________________
Alisa Belzer, Ph.D., Committee Member
_______________________________
Sharon Ryan, Ed.D., Committee Member
New Brunswick, NJ
January, 2017
SUPPORTING DIFFERENTLY-ABLED STUDENTS IN TWO NEW JERSEY COMMUNITY
COLLEGES
© 2017
Mildred Faulkner Waale
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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SUPPORTING DIFFERENTLY-ABLED STUDENTS IN TWO NEW JERSEY COMMUNITY
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Abstract
Federal disabilities legislation (theIndividuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
Act, or IDEIA of 2004) continued the movement of disabled (“differently-abled”) persons from
segregated public educational institutions to fully integrated general education classrooms, with
appropriate accommodations for the individual’s disabilities. Public schools’ implementation of
this legislation has resulted in differently-abled high school students havingincreased skills and
options as they enter the postsecondary world of work and/or education. Currently, there is a wide
gap between the levels of support these students experience in public school versus the levels of
supports they can expect in post-secondary education and/or in employment. For many of these
students, postsecondary education on the campuses of community colleges may bridge that gap.
The purpose of this studywas to comparethelevels of and different types of support for
differently-abled students at two New Jerseycommunity colleges. Thefollowingresearch
questions wereinvestigated: (1)What support services are provided to and accessed by
differently-abled students in two New Jerseycommunity college settings? (2)What difficulties do
administrators and students encounter in providing and accessing support services in the
community college setting? and (3)How helpful arethese services in supportingstudents’
progress towards their individual educational and career goals? Twenty differently-abled students
and four community college administrators participated in this mixed methods study.
Findings indicated broad use of extended time for testing, testing in quiet testing centers;
assistive technology; and pre-enrollment, academic, and transfer counselingservices. Major
challenges identified by administrators included difficulties in planning for and funding needed
services due to open enrollment policies. Challenges identified by students included financial
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SUPPORTING DIFFERENTLY-ABLED STUDENTS IN TWO NEW JERSEY COMMUNITY
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challenges, self-advocacy for required services, balancing the competing demands for time spent
at work versus time spent studying, and needing to complete remedial courses prior to earning
college credits. Findings also indicated comparative differences in CC1 and CC2 students’
perceptions of the helpfulness and quality of services for the following service categories: pre-
enrollment services, academic counseling, assistive technology, and financial services counseling.
Additional research is called for to obtain statistical data regarding graduation and attrition rates
for differently-abled students, associated with the levels of accommodations and support services
they require for academic success. Also, further research is required on cost and requisite funding
needed to provide these supports. Possible implications for Disability Services Office (DSO)
administrators are: increased use of Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
standards to self-audit service provisioning; increased scaffolding of differently-abled students
throughout their progression in college and their transition to post-college academic/employment
pursuits; and direct, mandated instruction in available services and supportive technologies to
assist students in accessing appropriate and effective supports.
Key words: community colleges, postsecondarydisability services and accommodations,
and communitycollege disabilityservices, Association on Higher Education and Disability
(AHEAD) standards.
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Table of Contents
Contents
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................II
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................IV
LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................VIII
LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................................IX
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1
Problem Statement..........................................................................................................................2
Purpose Statement..........................................................................................................................4
Personal Connection to this Research...........................................................................................5
Research Design..............................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................................8
Legislative and Judicial Foundations for Special Needs Supports.............................................8
Impact of Disability Legislation: Community Colleges and Employment..............................13
Postsecondary Disability Services...............................................................................................16
Brief history of postsecondary disability services..........................................................16
Postsecondary disability service standards....................................................................17
The community college context and definitions of “academic success.”......................20
Examination of postsecondary disability services through four different lenses........24
Some barriers to success identified in previous studies.................................................37
Administrative approaches to overcoming barriers and increasing success...............40
Community college disability support services cost and funding considerations.......44
Literature Review Conclusion.....................................................................................................46
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................48
Research Perspective....................................................................................................................48
Role of the Researcher..................................................................................................................49
Research Sites................................................................................................................................50
Sample Selection and Participant Recruitment.........................................................................52
Ethical Considerations..................................................................................................................55
Data Collection Procedures..........................................................................................................56
Quantitative Data Analysis..........................................................................................................58
Qualitative Data Analysis.............................................................................................................59
Qualitative Data Analysis: Open Coding........................................................................60
Qualitative Data Analysis: Axial Coding........................................................................62
Validity...........................................................................................................................................64
Study Design Limitations.............................................................................................................65
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS............................................................................................................66
I. What support services are provided to and accessed by students?......................................66
CC1 and CC2 administrator responses regarding the services they provide.............67
CC1 and CC2 student responses regarding services they access.................................72
II. What difficulties do administrators/students have providing/accessing services?............74
Difficulties administrators face in providing services...................................................75
Difficulties students face in accessing services...............................................................78
III. How helpful are these services in supporting students’ progress towards their
educational and career goals?......................................................................................................81
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Descriptive statistics..........................................................................................................82
Qualitative data by service category: insights from students and administrators.....89
Additional qualitative findings......................................................................................103
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION.....................................................................................................109
Discussion of AHEAD Standards Relative to this Study.........................................................109
Community College DSO Efforts to Support Differently-Abled Students............................112
Pragmatic and Transformative Use of Research Results........................................................114
Implications for Practice............................................................................................................115
Study Limitations........................................................................................................................118
Future Research..........................................................................................................................119
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................121
APPENDICES.............................................................................................................................130
A: Annotated Timeline of Federal Disabilities Legislation/Significant Court Rulings........130
B: Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) Postsecondary Education
Disability Program Standards and Performance Indicators..................................................134
C: Student Recruitment Letter..................................................................................................136
D: NJ Community College Administrators/Disability Services Support Center Staff
Interview Protocol.......................................................................................................................137
E: Community College Student Interview Protocol................................................................140
F: Sample Memo.........................................................................................................................153
G: Description of Research Sites...............................................................................................155
H: Student Participants’ Demographics...................................................................................156
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I: Community College 1 Composite Student Responses to Likert Scale Ratings: Students’
Rating of the Helpfulness of Services........................................................................................157
J: Community College 1 Composite Student Responses to Likert Scale Ratings: Students’
Rating of the Quality of Services Used......................................................................................160
K:Community College 2 Composite Student Responses to Likert Scale Ratings: Students’
Rating of the Helpfulness of Services........................................................................................163
L: Community College 2 Composite Student Responses to Likert Scale Ratings: Students’
Rating of the Quality of Services Used......................................................................................166
M: Axial Coding and Analysis of Student Goal Movement....................................................169
Goal Level Categories.....................................................................................................173
Student Goal Movement.................................................................................................174
Discussion of Students’ Educational and Career Goal Movement Analysis and
Findings..................................................................................................................................178
M-1: Categorization of CC1 & CC2 Students’ Self-Reported Prior and Current
Academic and Career Goals................................................................................................183
M-2: Tracking of Student Goal Movement..................................................................190
M-3: Sample Dialogue about Catalyst for Goals: CC2-Student-1.............................196
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Listof Tables
Table 1: Comparative Community College Attrition/Graduation Rates and Employment
Participation/Unemployment Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Table 2: Open Coding Mapping of Research Questions to Protocol Questions . . . . . . . 61
Table 3: Association of Research Questions to Open Coding Core Categories – Used to
Map Raw Data to Research Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Table 4: CC1 and CC2 Students’ Report of the Services & Accommodations they Use . 77
Table 5: CC1 Students’ Ratings of the Helpfulness of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Table 6: CC2 Students’ Ratings of the Helpfulness of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Table 7: Analysis of CC1 & CC2 Students’ Ratings of the Helpfulness of Services . . . . 86
Table 8: CC1 Students’ Rating of the Quality of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Table 9: CC2 Students’ Rating of the Quality of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Table 10: Analysis of CC1 and CC2 Students’ Perceptions of the Quality of Services . .88
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TableAppendix M-1: Students’ Self-Reported Goals: Categories and Criteria . . . . . 183
Table Appendix M-2: Criteria for Mapping Student Goal Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Table Appendix M-3: Assessing Student Goal Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Table Appendix M-4: Calculating Improvement in Student Goal Movement . . . . . . . 196
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List of Figures
FigureAppendix M-1: Axial Coding Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
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